Rough Times - Ethan Hardy
by NibblesHardy
Summary: Ethan has a rough day, but things take a turn for the worst when he runs out during his shift and he's involved in an accident. Will his colleagues be able to help him before it's too late?


Dr Ethan Hardy was stood, leaning against a post outside of Holby City Emergency Department with an energy drink in his hand. It's been a tough day and it's only 9am. He sighed as he took another sip.

"They're bad for you, you know?" A voice spoke, startling the young blonde from his thoughts. Ethan turned to see his brother approaching and he groaned in annoyance.

"Not today, Caleb," Ethan snapped, blowing out some air and taking another sip of the drink. He heard Cal sigh before a few moments silence.

"What's up, Nibbles?" Cal frowned, concern flooding his voice as he stared at his, obviously, stressed little brother.

Ethan sighed, turning his gaze up to the sky above him, "Nothing, Cal," He muttered, trying to push back the tears that were threatening to fall. "Nothing is going on. Everything is absolutely fine. Everything is perfect as always!" He snapped, glaring at his brother, who stared back in shock.

It was silent for a few moments before Ethan sighed and hung his head. "Caleb, I'm sorry," He whispered, "It's been...a tough morning. I've been here since 5am and it's been non stop. Mrs Beauchamp has been on my backside, Dr Hanna is stressing majorly, Lily is completely blanking me and...Dr Keogh is underestimating me and not letting me deal with my own damn patients!" Finally, _finally,_ he could let the weight off his chest.

Cal's face dropped as his little brother's eyes glossed up and the tears began spilling. "Oh, Nibbles," He whispered, bringing his brother into a much needed hug - even though he knew Ethan hated the soppy stuff, but he needed the touch and Cal knew that. "Everything is going to be okay. I promise you. Look, how about, when the day is done, we go out for a brotherly dinner, a few drinks, some films and we can look into booking a holiday and getting away from here for a couple weeks?" Cal suggested, much to Ethan's surprise.

"You know, I don't say this often, but thank you, Caleb. Seriously, thank you," Ethan spoke softly, "I do love you, Caleb. I may not show it all the time, but I do. You truly are the best big brother, you know that?"

"Of course I do," Cal smirked, ruffling up his brother's blonde hair before smiling softly and bringing the man into a hug again, "I love you too, Nibbles. Always have done, always will. I know it's cheesy and soppy and you don't like that stuff, but I'll always be here for you. You're my not-so-little-baby brother and always will be," With that, the two shared a meaningful hug before making their way back into the ED, Cal's arm wrapped around Ethan's shoulders.

* * *

"Nice of you to return, Doctor Hardy," Dylan Keogh snapped rather harshly as the Registrar pushed through the doors to RESUS. Ethan nervously glanced around the room, seeing his colleagues and a couple of patients watching him intently.

"Uh, y- yes, sorry, Doctor K- Keogh," He stuttered, embarassed beyond anything. Dylan scoffed before glaring at the younger Doctor.

"You're lucky your patient is stable. I managed to stabilise her vitals and we're moving her shortly to a cubicle for monitoring," Dylan spoke, venom in his voice, "Mrs Beauchamp would like to see you in her office ASAP. You better go now, before she loses anymore steam," With that, Ethan nodded silently before rushing off.

The room was silent until Charlie spoke up defensively, "Dylan, leave the poor kid alone. He's been through a rough time and-"

" _Rough time?!_ " Dylan interrupted sharply, "He's 30 years old, for Goodness sake! He needs to man up! This job cannot afford weaknesses on our team. I'll be surprised if he still has a job once Connie is finished with him," And once he spoke, he stormed out the room, not before demanding a nurse to organise the patient to be moved to cubicles. Everybody stood in shock at what they just witnessed, but Charlie was fuming. He loved Ethan and knew everybody else did. Charlie soon followed suit, leaving the room to find Connie and Ethan.

* * *

"I am _very_ disappointed in you, Doctor Hardy," Connie Beauchamp began angrily, "We cannot afford weaknesses like this, especially with the circumstances currently. If you make just one more mistake today, I will have no choice but to let you go. You have really let me down, Ethan. I am sorry, but my mind is made up. Get back to work before I-" Before she could continue, her office door was opened quite violently.

The woman glanced up at Charlie Fairhead as he entered, a look of anger and sadness swarming his features. Ethan's gaze was glued to the floor, his brain willing his eyes to stay dry, "Connie, you cannot fire Ethan. He is an exceptional Doctor, possibly one of the best. He has so much more potential and you're willing to just let him go so easily?! We've all made mistakes, including you!" Charlie pointed a finger at the Clinical Lead, "If you can't see the potential in him, then you're clearly blind-"

"Senior Nurse Fairhead, you cannot speak to me like that!" Connie almost roared, "Doctor Hardy has let the team down plenty a times over the past couple weeks. He's had plenty of chances to prove his worth here at Holby, but I have not seen it. I no longer believe his heart is still in it,"

Not wanting to hear anymore, Ethan didn't care anymore. He ran out of the office, the door slamming shut behind him. Connie looked furious, but Charlie was worried. Without another word spoken, Charlie glared at Connie and quickly followed the young Doctor.

* * *

Meanwhile, in cubicles, Cal approached the young nurse, "Louise, have you seen Ethan at all? He went through to RESUS but Zoe said he left somewhere and nobody else has seen him. I've asked Connie, but she's not saying anything," Cal was worried. His brother was missing somewhere and nobody is talking.

Louise sighed before pulling Cal to a more private coridoor, where it was quieter, "I overheard Connie yelling at Ethan. She was saying that Ethan has 'let the side down' and he may be 'out of a job' by the end of the day," Cal's heart thumped in pain for his younger, obviously distraught, brother, but remained silent as Louise finished, "Apparently, Noel saw him run out the exit and he hasn't returned. That was now," She paused to check the time, "30 minutes ago. According to Noel, Ethan looked close to tears. Iain and Dixie tried to stop him, but he wasn't listening. They're out trying to find him now," When she finished, Cal quickly thanked her before rushing off towards the doors where Ethan left through.

Before he could step outside the sliding doors, Dixie and Iain ran through them, pushing a trolley, faces filled with fear, "Right, we have Ethan Hardy, aged 30 years old. Involved in a hit and run on Holby Highway," Dixie began the handover shakily, "Suspected head, chest and spinal injuries. Was KO'd at scene and has not regained consciousness. Open fracture to right tib, possible pneumothorax and torn spleen. GCS of 5, BP 90/60, he's had 10 of morphine, 10 of metoclopramide and 1 litre of saline," She finished as they pushed through the doors to RESUS.

Connie and Dylan, who were talking quietly just outside the RESUS doors, quickly ran over, but Cal was already scrubbed up and helping to move his younger brother from trolley to trolley. "Right, can we get an urgent chest x ray, head CT, MRI and full trauma scan right away. Let's get a chest drain kit ready and some more fluids on standby," Cal took control. Connie tried to gently move him out of the way, but Cal shoved her off.

"Don't you dare!" He screamed, glaring at her, "Don't you dare touch my brother! You're the reason he ran out and got hurt! Both you and Dylan can get out of here! _NOW!"_ Normally, the two consultants would put up a fight, but they both blamed themselves, so, without further question, they left with looks of guilt and worry painted on their faces. Connie decided to fetch Charlie and Zoe to assist Cal, knowing he'll need help.

Cal was looking in horror at his brother's scans results. Ethan's lung has collapsed, he has a bleed on his brain and his spine is severely damaged. "Doctor Knight, he's losing output," Robyn Miller, Staff Nurse and good friend of the two brothers, spoke shakily as she tried so hard not to cry. Cal quickly whipped around and ran to his brother's side.

"Right, we need to get the chest drain in immediately to decrease the pressure on his collapsed lung and we need to contact neuro for surgery!" Cal ordered, as he began chest compressions, "We need to keep him spinally immobialised, his spine is severely damaged and if we try and move him, we risk losing him or causing permanent injuries," As he was speaking, Zoe Hanna rushed in and began speaking,

"Mr Guy Self is on his way down. He's going to be leading Ethan's surgery. We need to-" She stopped abruptly when she saw Cal performing CPR on his brother.

"He can't be moved yet. We need to get him stable before we even _think_ about getting him upstairs," Doctor Knight informed, not even looking at the consultant, "He lost output 2 minutes ago," He explained, "Okay, Robyn, can you get me 5 of adrenaline, please and let's get ready to intubate," Zoe rushed over to assist.

Zoe administered the adrenaline as Cal continued compressions, "Right, let's shock him," She stated, "Charge to 120, Robyn, and clear?" Everybody nodded and Cal stepped back. They all watched in silence as Ethan's body jerked up from the shock. Zoe placed her index and middle fingers against his vein and waited. After what felt like hours, but was only seconds to Cal, she nodded with a relieved smile, "He's back with us," She breathed out. Cal's eyes watered as he felt a huge weight off his chest.

"Okay, let's get him intubated and get the chest drain in now. Guy will be down any minute now and he can examine Doctor Hardy for surgery," Zoe said, rubbing Cal's shoulder as he stared, brokenly, at his younger brother, "You did amazing, Cal. Okay? Ethan's stable and he'll be fine. He's a fighter, right? He can pull through," She said reassuringly, "Well done, Doctor Knight,"

* * *

Many, many hours later, Cal was sat in a medium sized ICU room. Ethan had been out of surgery for 40 minutes and he was still unconscious (as expected). A part of his hair had been shaved for the surgery and a large bandage was wrapped around his head. The spot where they performed the surgery was tightly and expertly stitched underneath the dressing. An intubation tube was in his throat, helping Ethan's lungs to inflate and deflate to keep him alive and to ensure his body isn't working in overdrive. The surgeon, Guy Self, had informed Cal that the surgery went well and they expect the young doctor to make a full recovery in the months to come.

Luckily, another doctor confirmed that Ethan's, though broken, spine will be able to be treated so no lasting damage would be a worry. Cal spent a good hour crying in relief as he thanked all the surgeons, doctors and nurses for all of their work. He had never been so scared before. Now all he had to do was wait for his little brother to wake up, though that could be days or weeks from now. Either way, Cal was more than happy to have his brother still with him.

* * *

Downstairs in the ED, Mr Self came down to inform the unusually quiet staff members about their colleagues progress. "Good evening, everybody," He began, looking around at everybody. He could see Connie Beauchamp, Charlie Fairhead, Zoe Hanna, Rita Freeman, Dylan Keogh and many others staring at him, anxiously waiting for news, "At 11:47 this morning, Senior Registrar Doctor Ethan Hardy was rushed upstairs for emergency brain surgery after he was involved in an RTC Hit and Run. From the accident, he sustained several serious injuries. He lost output for 7 minutes shortly after arriving in RESUS. Luckily, Senior Registrar Doctor Caleb Knight, with the help of Staff Nurse Robyn Miller and Doctor Zoe Hanna, Doctor Hardy was brought back. Once he was stable, myself and several other surgeons and doctors rushed him into surgery for a bleed on his brain,

"It took us 11 hours, but I can confirm that Doctor Hardy is now stable and is currently recovering in ICU upstairs. His brother, Doctor Knight, is with him now and I want to ask you all to respect their privacy. Doctor Knight explained what happened to cause the accident," He pointedly shot a sharp glare at Connie and Dylan, who both lowered their heads, "And I am completely disappointed at how this Emergency Department is being run currently. Doctor Hardy will not be returning to work for quite a while. He will be remaining upstairs under my observations for many more weeks,

"Visitors will be welcome in the next couple of weeks, depending on his recovery and when he awakens. Doctor Knight will also be excused from work for as long as he needs. He is absolutely distraught and he would appreciate the privacy for a while until he's ready for visitors. I will be updating you all with any news I see fit to inform you. For now, please get back to work and any questions or worries, do not hesitate to come and see me. My door is open to everyone of you," With that, he took another look around the room and headed back upstairs to check on the doctor.

 _ **Please leave me some feedback. This is my first Casualty fanfiction and would love to hear what you guys have to say. Also, feel free to give me ideas for more chapters. Hope you enjoyed chapter one so far :)**_


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